The Best Natural Sugar Substitutes To Help You Lose Weight (And The Worst)

When it comes down to it eating sugar is one of the worst things you can put into your body. Instead, try to use more of these natural sugar substitutes in your diet to enhance weight loss.

Getting rid of the sugar in your diet is the number one thing you can do to lose more weight and improve your health.

Sugar is highly addicting and is the cause of many of the chronic diseases in the United States. Everything from obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

It’s easy over consume sugar so it’s a wise idea to look for natural alternatives. The average American consumes more than 150 pounds of refined sugar every year.

But there are ways you can kick sugar to the curb with these healthier and natural substitutes.

I’m sure you can agree it can be difficult to completely get rid of sugar from your diet.

Use these natural sugar substitutes to satisfy your sweet tooth while minimizing the health consequences.

Natural Sugar Substitutes for Weight Loss

So Why Is Sugar So Bad For You

There really are no health benefits to eating sugar. It just gives you empty calories that’ll skyrocket your blood sugar levels.

There are no vitamins, minerals, proteins, good fats or antioxidants to be found in sugar.

Eating sugar can damage your metabolism by increasing the amount of insulin your body releases. This can cause your body to store more fat, lose more muscle and have decreased energy levels.

There’s more evidence today than ever sugar causes obesity and type 2 diabetes. It can stop your body from telling you it’s full. Next thing you know you’re eating more and more because of the sugar you ate.

Studies have found individuals who eat the most sugar are more likely to be overweight and have deadly visceral belly fat.

Even drinking diet soda has been heavily linked to increases in abdominal fat.

Along with obesity and stomach fat from eating sugar comes increases in the risk of heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

Sugar is incredibly addictive and I’ve found it to be one of if not the hardest part of embarking on a new diet.

Eating sugar causes your brain to release dopamine in the reward center part of the brain. Very similar to hardcore addictive drugs.

This gradually leads to overeating and can be very hard for someone to kick sugar to the curb for good.

Just make sure you find a stevia that has less bad additives as many on store shelves do.

See my blog post on is stevia safe to find my favorite choices for stevia.

Monk Fruit

Monk fruit is 150-200 times sweeter than sugar. The monk fruit extract has zero calories and zero carbohydrates.

It’s named after the monks who ate the fruit and needs to be processed as it can go bad quickly.

You can expect to keep stable blood sugar levels when you substitute sugar for monk fruit in your diet.

There is no evidence of negative side effects from monk fruit, but keep in mind it’s relatively new to the scene. The FDA says its “generally recognized as safe” but there still needs more research to be done.

The antioxidants found in monk fruit give it its sweetness. This 2013 study found monk fruit helped to lower oxidative stress in the body.

But a good quality monk fruit sweetener can be hard to find.

Many contain dextrose or have other additives that may cause an insulin response in your body.